


Insecurities

by BabyBottlePop



Series: Day by Day, Night by Night [15]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Age Play, Baby Louis, Baby Niall, Chronic Illness, Daddy Harry, Diapers, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Fluff, Infantilism, M/M, Non-Sexual Age Play, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-09
Updated: 2019-05-09
Packaged: 2020-02-29 05:14:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18771934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BabyBottlePop/pseuds/BabyBottlePop
Summary: It wasn’t exactly running away, Louis reassured himself. He was merely moving on in his life, to give Niall more time with Daddy. After all, he owed them both that much. They were a family before Louis, and it was probably something that they missed a lot.(A playdate leaves Louis feeling rather insecure about himself)





	Insecurities

“Thank you so much again for watching Selena. She’s so excited to play with the boys; it’s all she’s been talking about since waking up this morning.”

 

“My boys have been the same way. It’s been far too long since they’ve had a playdate.”

 

Louis scowled from his seat on the thinking chair. Niall might be excited about having Selena over, but he was not! Selena always took all of Niall’s attention, and she was too bossy whenever they played games. She was also a big tattletale; whenever something didn’t go her way, she yelled for the closest mommy or daddy.

 

Right now, Selena and Niall had already gone to play in the nursery. Louis would have joined them, but the timer hadn’t gone off yet. Just a few minutes ago, he’d been put into the thinking chair for repeatedly throwing his milk bottle on the floor at lunchtime, because it had been an amusing game watching his daddy retrieve the bottle over and over until he finally got fed up.

 

“Well, I really do appreciate it. I know watching three babies is a lot of work. I don’t even know how you manage two of them on a daily basis. I’d love for Selena to have a sibling, but there’s no way I’d have the stamina for it.”

 

Louis normally never listened in on conversations between daddies and mommies. After all, they usually only discussed boring things, and so there was really no need to listen. Once in awhile though, he would get curious, especially when his and Niall’s names was brought up.

 

“Bringing Louis into the family certainly brought a list of new challenges,” Harry was saying to Selena’s mommy. “He and Niall are very different.”

 

Upon hearing those words, Louis felt his face flush red with shame. He already knew how much better Niall was compared to him, at least for a baby. He stopped listening to the rest of the conversation, and instead began to think deeply.

 

Louis seemed to have been getting in trouble a lot lately. He’d thrown a tantrum yesterday over putting on sunscreen, and it had almost spoiled their beach day. And then, last night, he’d woken up the entire household with his coughing. Daddy had to use the nebu-tizer, and Nicky had to hold him still in his lap because Louis had been grouchy and sleepy, and he didn’t want any medicine! All of the commotion had woken Niall, who had then began to cry as well. And now, of course, he was in time-out for repeatedly throwing his bottle.

 

It was clear that his daddy was right; Louis _was_ a challenge.

 

Harry and Selena’s mommy said their goodbyes, and then the timer went off.

 

“Alright Lou, are we ready to try again?”

 

“Yes Daddy,” Louis nodded vigorously. He wanted to show his daddy that he could be just as good as Niall, without any challenges whatsoever.

 

“That’s my good boy,” Harry kissed his head. “You can join Niall and Selena in the nursery then. Make sure to be on your best behavior. Remember, Selena is a guest.”

 

“I will!” Louis said, eager to be free of the thinking chair.

 

Unfortunately, being on his best behavior around Selena was much easier said than done. Almost as soon as Louis arrived to the nursery, she began to boss him around.

 

“Niall’s the daddy, I’m the mommy, and you’re the baby,” Selena instructed as she took charge over their game of house.

 

Louis frowned. “I don’t _want_ to be the baby!”

 

Being the baby was the absolute _worst_ in a game of house. Louis was already a baby to begin with, which was why it was much more exciting to be a mommy or daddy, or even a kitten or puppy. There was also the fact that Selena would no doubt be a bossy mommy. Niall made an okay daddy, but not when he did everything that Selena said!

 

Niall looked pleadingly at him. “Please Lou-Lou? You’re the littlest, so you make the best baby!”

 

“I’m _not_ little,” Louis protested, through he bit his lip because technically his brother was telling the truth. “Can’t we play a different game?”

 

“I want to play house, and I’m the guest!” Selena said with finality in her tone that caused Louis to see red. He felt that it was unfair having to abide by her wishes, but he remembered the warning his daddy had given him about being nice to their playmate.

 

“Fine,” he agreed sulkily.

 

Being Selena’s baby was no fun. She crammed a paci into his mouth and talked to him in a baby-voice. Worst of all, she kept giving Niall kisses on the cheek, as if they actually were a mommy and a daddy. Yuck! As awful as it was, Louis stayed polite through the whole game, even if he wasn’t having fun.

 

“Now it’s time to give the baby up for ‘doption!” Selena announced, holding a baby doll in her arms. “Cause we found a new baby instead!”

 

Louis gaped, the pacifier dropping from his mouth. “You can’t do that! You already have me for a baby!”

 

“Well I want this one,” Selena decided, hugging the doll to her chest. “She’s a girl, and she has pretty curls.”

 

“Leena, can’t we have two babies?” Niall asked, naturally trying to appease both his brother and his best friend. “That way we’d have a baby boy _and_ a baby girl.”

 

“I don’t want to be your baby anyways!” Louis decided. In fact, he’d never wanted to be the baby in the first place. “And that’s my dolly, I want her back!”

 

He tried tugging the baby doll out of Selena’s arms, but she held on firmly.

 

“You _have_ to share!” She said. “You’re no fun to play with!”

 

That was a very mean thing to say, and it wasn’t true! Plenty of babies liked to play with Louis when he was at the park, or at play-group. Selena was the only baby who Louis didn’t like to play with. _She_ was the one who was no fun, especially since she always stole Niall from him.

 

In retaliation, he took hold of Selena’s dark locks and pulled.

 

“OW!” She screamed, and promptly burst into tears. “Ow, Ow, OW!”

 

Needless to say, Louis got put back into the thinking chair for the second time that day. One more offense, his daddy warned, would result in a red bum.

 

Everything was going very badly! Louis was supposed to be showing his daddy that he didn’t have any challenges. Evidently he had been wrong, and so he could only sulk quietly while he was in time-out. Rather than feel sorry for himself as he often did when he was in the thinking chair, Louis instead began to feel sorry for his daddy and Niall.

 

The three minutes in the thinking chair always seemed to take forever, but at least he had time to make a new plan.

 

If Louis couldn’t stop having challenges, then there was only one solution: He would have to live someone on his own, so nobody would be bothered by them.

 

It wasn’t exactly running away, Louis reassured himself. He was merely moving on in his life, to give Niall more time with Daddy. After all, he owed them both that much. They were a family before Louis, and it was probably something that they missed a lot. There would be less for Daddy to worry about too. Niall would be able to play with Selena in peace, and still have all of Daddy’s attention.

 

Once his three minutes were up, Louis put his plan into action. He wasn’t about to go back into the nursery with Niall and Liam, so he opted for grabbing his playgroup backpack and filling it with whatever he could find in the living room that would be useful for his new life. Then, after remembering to put on his outdoor wear, he made his way to the screen door that went to the backyard.

 

“Lou, we’re not having outdoor play right now.”

 

Louis stopped short in his tracks. He hadn’t realized that his daddy had seen him, in his jacket and mismatched boots, with his little backpack crammed full of his favorite toys.

 

“Daddy, I-” Louis frowned to himself, wondering how exactly he could explain his plan. “I have to go outside, ‘cause I’m going to live there.”

 

“Live there?” Harry’s brows furrowed together. He opened his mouth to say something else, but there was a thump in the distance and it sounded as if something had broke. “Oh alright, you can go play for a few minutes. You stay right in the backyard, okay?”

 

“Okay Daddy,” Louis agreed, feeling a rush of relief. He could live outside without breaking his daddy’s rules of leaving the backyard. It was a win-win situation really; even though he would love and miss his daddy and brother very much, at least they would be close by.

 

* * *

 

 

When Nick came over after work, Harry was putting the final touches into the dinner that he’d been making. Selena’s mommy had only just come to pick up her baby a moment ago, and already the house felt quieter.

 

“As much as I love playdates, I’m sure glad it’s over now,” Harry told Nick when the other had inquired about his day. “Selena’s an absolute sweetheart, but she’s quite boisterous when she plays. I’m glad Niall and Lou aren’t as messy on a regular basis.”

 

Harry always enjoyed having other littles over, but having to watch three littles by himself was rather exhausting. Having Nick here immediately made things better; after dinner, Nick could give them their baths while he could have a bit of time for himself.

 

“Speaking of which, can you bring Louis back inside?” Harry asked Nick, noting how it was growing both colder and closer to dinnertime. “His breathing has been okay today, but I don’t want any more setbacks, especially after last night…he’s been out there for almost twenty minutes now.”

 

“No worries, I’ll go fetch him,” Nick said, dropping a kiss onto Niall’s head and then Harry’s cheek before getting up and heading to the back door.

 

Louis was by the swingset, where he had cleared away leaves and piled up some sticks.

 

“Hi sweet boy,” Nick greeted him, looking on in endearment. “What have you got going on here?”

 

“It’s my house,”  Louis answered, eyes brightening as he saw Nick. “See my bed? And my toys are gonna go here.”

 

“Very nice,” Nick complimented the baby’s creativity. “You’ll have to show Daddy and Niall tomorrow, I’m sure they’ll love it. It’s time to go back inside now though.”

 

“Uh-uh,” Louis shook his head. “I told you Nicky, this is my new house.”

 

“Come on love, it’ll be here tomorrow. The sun’s setting, it’s going to get colder soon. You want to have a nice yummy dinner, don’t you?”

 

“Ni-Ni can have Daddy,” Louis explained. “I’m going to be a big boy from now on. I don’t need my crib or my- or anything else.”

 

Nick frowned, suddenly realizing that there was more to this than just a little game. “Listen Lou, big boy or not, you still need to come inside now.”

 

“I said _no_ Nicky!” Louis responded, curling up further and hiding his face with his hands. Now it was obvious that this wasn’t playtime at all. The only reasonable option was to get the person who had the biggest influence on Louis: his daddy.

 

When Nick came back inside without Louis, Harry immediately knew something was wrong.

 

“He’s refusing to come inside. I think he’s upset about something...apparently he wants to live outside in a house he made,” Nick explained. “I think you ought to talk with him, Harry.”

 

Nick didn’t need to say anything else. Harry immediately put his shoes on and went to the backyard. Sure enough, Louis was curled up by the swingset, next to a small pile of sticks and leaves.

 

“Lou baby, it’s Daddy. May I come inside?”

 

The baby sat up straighter, wiping his running nose on his jacket sleeve. Even if he was feeling sorry for himself, he had still greatly missed his daddy in the twenty minutes that he’d been living outside. “Y-Yes Daddy, you can come in.”

 

Harry stepped over the pile of sticks and sat next to his littlest baby.

 

“Nicky told me that you don’t want to come inside,” Harry said, running a soothing hand up and down the distressed little’s back. “You can’t stay out here, baby. What will Daddy do without his sweet little boy?”

 

“It’s better, ‘cause I have ch-challenges,” Louis hiccuped. “I pull hair, and I have to use a nebu-tizer!”

 

“Louis, you’re a baby, and babies are supposed to have challenges,” Harry told him. “That’s what makes it so much fun. In fact, everyone has their own set of challenges, even me.”

 

“You told ‘Leena’s mommy that me and Ni-Ni are different.”

 

“You and Niall are different, Lou,” Harry reminded him. “But that’s not a bad thing. I love Niall for Niall, and I love you for you. If every single baby was the same, it would be a very boring world, wouldn’t it? What if every single baby was the same as Selena, or Zayn?”

 

If that was the case, then it would be a very boring world indeed, especially if every baby was the same as Selena. Speaking of which, there was something about Selena that Louis wanted to discuss with his daddy.

 

“I had to pull Leena’s hair, Daddy,” Louis confessed. “She made me be the baby, but then she was putting me up for ‘doption. That’s not what a mommy or a daddy is supposed to do!”

 

“You’re right Lou, that was wrong of Selena. But it’s also wrong to pull hair. If you disagree with someone, then you can stop playing the game, or come to me. It’s never okay to hurt someone. But you’ve already been in the thinking chair for it, so it’s all behind us now.”

 

“And,” Harry continued. “I hope you remember what I’ve always told you. You and Niall are my life. When a daddy or a mommy adopts a baby, that means it’s permanent. So you see, I would be a terrible daddy if I let you live out here, even if you have made a lovely little home.”

 

Louis’ eyes widened comically. “No, Daddy, you aren’t terrible! You’re the bestest, most perfect daddy in the whole world!”

 

“I’m glad you think so,” Harry chuckled, kissing his head. “And another thing: I don’t ever want you to feel ashamed about your asthma. Remember the book we read? Your lungs are special, and so we need to take extra good care of them. I know that using the nebulizer isn’t very fun, but you’re a very brave and strong boy for being able to use it. Do you understand me?”

 

“Yes Daddy,” Louis whispered. He still didn’t feel very good about his asthma, but at least his daddy didn’t seem too burdened by it.

 

“Now, are you ready to come inside? I’ve got some very yummy chowder on the stove, and I’m sure Nicky and Niall are getting hungry.”

 

“Okay,” the baby agreed, and allowed Harry to carry him back inside. He wrapped his arms around his daddy’s neck and held him tightly, relishing in his warmth and comfort. It was beginning to grow dark outside, and Louis was suddenly relieved with the fact that he wouldn’t have to sleep all by himself outdoors.

 

His diaper was also cold and wet. He had forgotten to pack diapers in his backpack, so maybe it really was best to live at home again, where his daddy always took care of him no matter what, even if he pulled hair or got himself into trouble.

 

Even so, as they made it indoors, Louis still had plans to somehow convince his daddy that they should say bye-bye forever to the nebu-tizer.

 

But that could wait until tomorrow.

 

* * *

_If you enjoy this series, check out some Day by Day, Night by Night stuff on my tumblr[here](https://bashfulbabybottlepop.tumblr.com/tagged/Day-by-Day-Night-by-Night)! _

  


**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if everyone thought I was dead! 
> 
> Let me know if you enjoyed it!
> 
> <3


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